SUBJECT: New study updates picture of housing segregation in Seattle

New study updates picture of housing segregation in SeattleBy the Seattle Office for Civil Rights

Has the pattern of housing segregation changed in Seattle?

If you asked that question last year, the answer would have been long on anecdotes
but short on hard data. Not so today: a much clearer portrait of the Emerald
City has emerged, thanks to a new report entitled “Housing Segregation
in Seattle.” The report updates a study released in 1976 by the Seattle
Office for Civil Rights, back when it was known as the Human Rights Department.

“The Seattle Office for Civil Rights commissioned this study because
we needed a clear, objective picture of current conditions in Seattle,” said
Germaine W. Covington, director of SOCR. “We knew that the city’s
demographics had changed greatly in thirty years, but we had no easy way to
look at the data and determine if our neighborhoods reflected those changes.”

Kate Davis wrote the study as part of her Master’s Degree program at
the Daniel J. Evans School of Public Affairs. “This project resonated
with me personally because I think fair housing is such a critical issue,” she
said. “It draws on a lot of different public policy areas, from zoning
to illegal discrimination.” Davis drew her statistical analysis from
the Neighborhood Change Database (NCDB) developed by the Urban Institute and
Geolytics, Inc. The NCDB uses the last four decades of U.S. census data, reconfigured
so that all census tract boundaries stay consistent from year to year.

The new report updates the findings of the 1976 study by asking several key
questions:

How have patterns of housing segregation in Seattle changed since 1976?

What are the causes of continued segregation in Seattle?

What has been the impact on housing segregation of government policies that
target discrimination, affordability and accessibility?

The study confirms what many Puget Sound residents already have noticed: Seattle
and King County have become more diverse, and Seattle’s neighborhoods
have grown more integrated. In 1960, none of Seattle’s neighborhoods
north of the Ship Canal were more than 2% non-white; by 2000, all of Seattle’s
neighborhoods were more than 12% households of color. In 1960, suburban King
County was home to roughly 20% of the county’s non-white population;
by 2000, 60% of the county’s households of color lived outside Seattle’s
city boundaries. Census figures reveal that African Americans in Seattle remain
more highly segregated from whites than are Asians and Latinos. At the same
time, white people are more likely to live in “same group” neighborhoods
than are people of color.

“Ironically, in some neighborhoods white people have become the most
isolated of any racial group,” said Davis. “That doesn’t
mean the housing choices white people have made are consciously motivated by
race. But it does indicate that a variety of individual choices have created
clear racial patterns.”

Discrimination, economic access and personal preference all play roles in
perpetuating housing segregation – but it is hard to pin down a precise
formula. “A lot of people think class plays a large role in determining
the racial diversity of neighborhoods. But the data doesn’t show that,” said
Davis. “Segregation is not simply a product of economic access – it
is driven by racial discrimination and individual preferences.”

Enforcement of fair housing laws is an important tool, but statistics from
fair housing agencies do not capture the full incidence of discrimination.
Because the enforcement process relies on individuals’ coming forward
with complaints, many incidents continue to go unreported. Local data from
a study commissioned in 2004 by the Office for Civil Rights also suggests patterns
of discrimination in lending, especially involving African American and Latino
households.

Within King County and Seattle, zoning and affordable housing policies both
have helped to reduce the level of racial segregation in housing. Since 1970,
practically every neighborhood in Seattle has experienced an increase in the
number and proportion of multi-family units. In 1978, Seattle began to build
more affordable rental housing outside of the City’s low-income, minority
neighborhoods, including more than 8,000 units financed by the Seattle Housing
Levy. Seattle voters have renewed their support for the levy several times
since it was first passed in 1981. The bulk of these affordable housing units
have been located outside of low-income neighborhoods.

Local policies have been guided by the State’s Growth Management Act,
which encourages denser development in urban areas. Public policies, however,
have been unable to withstand the pressures of fast-rising home prices. The
hyperactive home sales market has made even Seattle’s Central Area – once
one of the only neighborhoods where African Americans could live in Seattle – unaffordable
to many middle-income households.

“Seattle is different from other American cities in its housing patterns,” said
Davis. “I grew up in Washington D.C., where segregation has pretty much
stayed the same. Seattle’s neighborhoods are becoming more diverse. We’ve
made progress here, and I think that’s something we can be proud of.”

“This report illustrates the complex relationships between housing,
the economy and discrimination, and the difficulty of making housing opportunities
available on an equitable basis,” said Covington. “We need to continue
working with mortgage lending institutions, real estate professionals and non-profit
housing groups, as well as maintain our strong ties to the rental housing community.”

Have a question about fair housing in Seattle? Call the Seattle Office for
Civil Rights at 206-684-4500 (TTY 206-684-4503), or find SOCR on the Web at
www.seattle.gov/civilrights.